SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on 50th Falcon 9 rocket of 2025 – Spaceflight Now
2025-04-29T01:18:05Z
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Update 11:05 p.m. EDT: SpaceX landed the first stage booster on the droneship.
SpaceX completed its second Falcon 9 rocket launch in less than half a day. The Starlink 12-10 mission took flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center about six hours after another Starlink flight took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A happened at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 UTC). This was SpaceX’s 50th Falcon 9 launch of the year.
On Sunday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 75 percent chance for favorable weather during the launch window. Meteorologists said they were tracking potential concerns with violations of the Cumulus Cloud and the Anvil Cloud Rules.
“The main weather threats for the primary launch opportunity are cumulus clouds associated with nearby showers and any lingering anvil clouds from remnant thunderstorms,” launch weather officers wrote.
SpaceX debuted a new booster for this mission. It’s believed to either bear the tail number of B1091 or B1094, but it wasn’t clear prior to launch which one was in the loop.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ This marked the 106th booster landing on that droneship and the 439th booster landing to date.
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